Hi Brad! Thank you for speaking with me today!
What have you been working on?
I have a lot of stuff I am working on right now. I have a new video concept album coming out called ‘In a Very Unusual Manner.’ It has a lot of dark evil sounding music with a set design to match the mood. I also have some online courses on playing guitar I am very excited about releasing in the coming month. One of them is about how to play guitar with expression, and another one is on a jazz chord melody system I developed myself.
When you’re not feeling motivated how do you get back on track?
If you really love doing something you will not have a problem with feeling unmotivated. When it comes to things like practicing guitar, not feeling motivated has never been an issue for me. On the contrary I am so motivated I sometimes forget about doing other stuff, sometimes I forget to eat. If I don’t feel motivated to do something I don’t do it, life is too short to mess around with anything else. As far as things I have to do I am not motivated to do, like doing taxes, paying bills, exercising, or working on marketing, I usually think about the end result. I think about how much more time and mental space will be freed up to do things I am motivated to do.
How much do you believe LUCK plays a role in success?
Luck HA! Luck is about how much you roll the dice. If there is a one in a million chance something will work out, all you have to do is roll the dice one million times and eventually it will work out. Luck is also about being in the right place at the right time. In that sense I think you can learn to be lucky. In terms of actual random luck, this is not a variable I can control so I do not concern myself with it. I only concern myself with things in my control. If I can’t do anything about it, it will either work out or it won’t so I don’t worry about it. I concern myself very little with luck.
Do you have any sort of ritual to center or prepare yourself before you perform live?
I don’t really have any kind of ritual to prepare for performing. Once I started performing, teaching and marketing a lot I realized that getting nervous is a luxury for people with too much free time. When I am running around like crazy, I do not have time to be nervous. I used to do all kinds of things when I was starting to perform but none of them actually made a difference. You just have to practice and be on your game. If you know you practiced and you know your fingers are in shape there is nothing to center or prepare for you are the center and you are prepared. I have found that many times if I get to a gig early and am calm the performance isn’t as good as if I am in a rush. The panic and adrenaline I can use to my advantage to create a more compelling performance.
Any other projects you would like to promote?
Have two albums recorded available on all platforms. I have many youtube videos of me performing and teaching guitar lessons. My website has all my information, quotes, podcasts, videos etc. bradraumusic.com
Thank you for your time!
Thank you!
For press inquiries: bsquaredmgmt@gmail.com
End of Interview
